I went to this meeting last night. I was one of three guests. There were about 9 DDOT employees and consultants. They first mentioned how surprised they were no one showed up - right, you didn't really advertise it.
Anyway, it wasn't a design meeting. All of the projects below are either designed or being built under a design build contract. The three of us had design questions, but Project Manager Ali Shakeri had few answers. He's new on the project, and that's fine, but there probably should have been someone there who did have design answers. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Traffic Management Plan (TMP) for the numerous projects they're doing. But it was high level. Mostly they gave a bit on what would be done, how many lanes would be left open and when. Their TMP was limited to one slide which listed 6 strategies. I asked about the Transportation Demand Management bullet and was told it would consist solely of informing people of the construction and other options. They did give out a website with design info (which was good), but it was a dead link (which was bad). I think I found the website they meant to send us to (good) but it doesn't have all of the projects on it (bad). We all got a free frogurt (which was good) but the frogurt was cursed (which was bad).
So, not that useful. Still I was able to glean some facts of note.
Reconstruction of Brentwood Road NE
They're resurfacing the road between T St NE and Rhode Island Avenue NE starting this August and lasting for a year. There are no bike lanes on this section now, but the Bicycle Master Plan shows them.
Me: "Will you be adding bike lanes?"
Them: "Not sure"
Replacement of 9th Street Bridge NE
See this post from a few weeks ago
Replacement of New York Avenue NE railroad bridge
So this is kind of cool. They're going to completely demolish this bridge and replace it without closing it (for cars). The bridge also holds all the electrical power mounts for the Amtrak and Marc trains that pass underneath, so they have to remove those first and build new supports. Then they tear out the two center lanes, drill new pylons - the new bridge will only have two rows of supports instead of the current five, and then rebuild the center. Then close, demolish and rebuild the four quadrants one at a time. This will all start in August and end in February 2011. They'll use the current abutments. There will be no, more direct, connection to the Metropolitan Branch Trail built (like from the sidewalk along the bridge back to the MBT between the bridge and the FedEx building or between the bridge and the yet to be built building south of NY Ave).
The pedestrian lane will be closed and I had to ask them where the detour was. It's along Florida and then up 4th street. Hopefully it will be signed.
I was told that if the Metropolitan Branch Trail opens before work is done, they will not close it, unless they "have to." So that's a big loophole. Mr. Shakeri pointed out that they actually consider the Met Branch to be part of this project but that it had no traffic implications since it isn't open yet.
The new bridge will be wider to accommodate wider sidewalks, but he didn't know how wide the sidewalks would be.
Dave Thomas Circle
This is the "virtual" Circle where Florida Ave, New York Ave and 1st Street NE meet. It has a Wendy's in the middle. I wish I came up with the name, but that's what DDOT actually calls it.
Anyway the idea is to reroute traffic so that Florida Ave and 1st street become one way around the circle - which is actually a triangle. In addition there will be new traffic signals, streetlights, crosswalks and sidewalks.
Me: "So 1st and Florida make up part of a signed bike route to Eckington Place, how will this be rerouted for northbound cyclists?"
Them: "Not sure"
Reconstruction of 1st Street NE From New York to K Street
This project is on hold because WASA has to go in and tear up the street and they want to wait for all the construction - the construction that has all the bike lanes closed - to be completed. So the NoMa bid will tell WASA when they're done, then WASA will give DDOT the green light, then they'll rebuild the road which involves a new surface, curb, gutters, sidewalks and lights.
Me: "Will the bike lanes be kept open during construction?"
Them: "We're not widening the road."
Me: "Right...but there are bike lanes there now, will they be open during construction."
Them: "DDOT is no longer adding road capacity as a general rule, so if there's room for bike lanes we add them in."
Me: "Thanks, all the design work is online right?"
Them: "Yes, at that website in the presentation."
On the upside, I don't ever drive through that area. God have mercy on your soul if you do.
I love the name Dave Thomas Virtual Circle. I ride through here and have never found it all that safe to ride all the way along 1st Street to Florida, then figure out how to turn right and left to get onto Eckington since traffic is backed up at rush hour. I think I almost always ride through the Wendy's parking lot and out through that traffic light on the Eckington side. I guess if 1st is right-turn only onto NY, I think it'll be tricky to get into Wendy's or go around the triangle.
Posted by: abbot of unreason | May 22, 2009 at 06:35 PM
oh jesus, did they trot interns out there to run this meeting? this sounds ridiculous.
c'mon, ddot, what's the point of holding a public information meeting if you have no information to give to the public...
Posted by: IMGoph | May 22, 2009 at 06:53 PM
"if the Metropolitan Branch Trail opens before work is done, they will not close it". Strange comment -- the next section of the Met Branch trail is supposed to be done by the end of this summer (although they have not done much yet some I am skeptical) . . if the bridge is not slated to be finished until 2011, certainly the trail will be open before the (bridge) construction is finished.
Interesting timing on the bridge construction. For those who would drive into the city on NY Ave, the next best route is Benning Rd/H Street - which is also under construction. Lots going on.
Posted by: Purple Eagle | May 22, 2009 at 08:24 PM
"DDOT is no longer adding road capacity as a general rule,"
That's idiotic, especially from an envirnmental footprint persepctive that includes the use of existing corrdiros and of tunneling.
They need to extend the I-395 tunnel.
Posted by: Douglas Willinger | May 26, 2009 at 06:23 PM
And they need to cover the rail-yards, preferably as per the "Grand Arc" proposal.
Posted by: Douglas Willinger | May 26, 2009 at 11:39 PM